Alternative Medicine
by neonferriswheels
Summary: Shot down during battle, Kouha has to turn to some unlikely allies to get back to his feet.


Kouha: Flesh wound

I don't know where in the timeline this is? I'd say the most viable would be sometime during the fight against the Medium and the Black Djinn. Also Amon's flames can be controlled more to not incinerate everything upon contact. Aka I took artistic liberties to make this work.

Just displace it from continuity and roll with it… ;w;

Also utilizing honorifics because I had trouble trying to integrate in how Aladdin addresses people otherwise.

Kouha felt it more than anything. It was a sharp, almost burning pain in his side. He faltered in the air, having to focus hard to keep his djinn equip from slipping off. "Shit…" He pressed a hand to his side and pulled it back to examine the red smeared across his palm. Slowly he began to lower himself back down to the ground. Flying while he was bleeding this badly just screamed bad idea.

"Kouha-Onii!"

He jerked his head over towards the sound of his name. Aladdin and that one king vessel he palled around with (What was his name again? ...Ali…something or other) were rushing towards him. Kouha touched down and leaned heavily on his sword. He felt at his side again. Nothing important seemed hurt. No broken bones. No organs pierced. All in all it wasn't as bad as the blood made it seem.

"Kouha-Onii are you okay!?" Aladdin skidded to a stop before him, looking worriedly up. "You're bleeding really badly. Here, lay down."

"It's not that bad. Hey, careful!" Kouha swatted Aladdin's hands away. He glowered at Alibaba who was nervously hanging back a little. "What are _you_ looking at?" He snapped, making the other's face settle in a frown.

Aladdin was finally able to wrestle Kouha to the ground after much protesting, yowling, and general carrying on. He ripped the bottom of his robe to create a makeshift bandage to pack against the gash in Kouha's side. He offered Kouha a small smile, "You're pretty amazing if you managed to keep your djinn equip up after all this, Kouha-Onii"

Kouha smiled smugly, laying his head back. "Well of course. Would you expect any less of the third prince of the Kou Empire?" He looked to the side and examined Alibaba. This kid seriously cleared a dungeon? He must have skill though, since he did acquire a metal vessel after all. Amon, right? His eyes suddenly widened with realization. "You!" Kouha pointed as he suddenly surged up, making Aladdin cry out with surprise. "Your djinn is Amon right!?"

Alibaba jerked with the attention suddenly being directed at him. "Er, y-yeah. Yeah, he is. Why?" His eyes narrowed with suspicion.

"He deals with fire magic. That makes this situation so much better. Hey, Ali-somethin-somethin, get your ass over here!"

"My name is Alibaba!" Alibaba protested, but complied with Kouha's demand. "What?"

"I want you to use your fire magic on me." Kouha scooted to the side, pushing the bloody bandage aside.

"W-what!? Are you insane!? You want me to set you on fire!?" Alibaba backpedaled some, holding his hands up as if they would ward off Kouha's request.

"What? No! I'm not stupid! I want you to use your flames to cauterize the wound, you moron!" Kouha snapped back.

"Can you even do that!?"

"I-I think it could work. The theory is sound." Aladdin uncertainly vouched for Kouha. "But, I don't think we should. The gash isn't that deep. You should only cauterize if your limbs have been cut off or something like that."

"Could I go back and fight after?" Kouha turned his gaze to bore into Aladdin.

"Er-"

"I couldn't could I."

"It wouldn't be a good idea. And besides it would leave a pretty bad scar that you wouldn't get if you just stitched it up."

"A warrior can expect scars from battle. And besides, I think this is a dire enough situation to go for it. My army and brothers need my help! So get over here, Blondie, and do it."

"Woah, woah, woah. I think we're getting ahead of ourselves here. I mean, the field hospital could patch you up just fine right?" Alibaba tried to placate the situation.

Kouha leaned forward, ignoring the shooting pains in his side. His hand shot out and grabbed ahold of the front of Alibaba's tunic, dragging him close enough that he could feel the other boy's nervous breath on his face. "Listen, you. You better close this fucking wound if you know what's good for you." He nudged his sword against Aliababa's thigh with his other hand. "If you don't, I could take your balls; since obviously you're not using them."

Alibaba visibly gulped and pulled back when Kouha released him. "Fine. I'll do it. But if I kill you, it's not my fault." Kouha shrugged in response and gently pushed Aladdin back out of the way. Alibaba breathed out through his nose, hoisting up his sword and pointing it at Koha's side. The tip of the blade trembled with his nerves. He licked his lips anxiously and… did nothing.

The silence stretched out for a moment as Alibaba hesitated. Kouha ground his teeth and resisted the urge to roll his eyes, failing. "Alibaba!" He barked, putting all the authority into his voice that made his ranks stand to attention. "Just fucking do it!"

Breathing in sharply, Alibaba steadied his stance. "Okay, here goes…" He summoned Amon's flames and concentrated on enveloping only the edges of his blade with fire. He could feel himself straining with the exertion of keeping the magic close to the edges of the sword. Sweat beaded on his forehead and slowly ran down his temple. Alibaba scooted carefully towards Kouha and even more carefully knelt beside him. He was taking deep even breaths through his mouth as he lowered the red-hot blade to the torn flesh.

The sword passed over the wound, making Kouha seize up in response. His hands clawed at the packed earth under him, making deep gouges in the dirt. His feet scrambled against the ground as a high pitched keening noise of pain escaped his lips. It was embarrassing as hell and despite his conscious efforts to curb the noise; Kouha found he was unable to. He let his head thump back against the ground, staring dazedly at the overcast sky. Vaguely he could hear Aladdin encouraging him from the side, but couldn't make out the words.

"There!" Alibaba fell back with a gasp. "Done!"

Aladdin was immediately on Kouha, tightly bandaging the now cauterized wound. "There. It's not bleeding anymore." He paused and looked into Kouha's face. "Kouha-Onii…? Can you hear me?"

Slowly the world focused again and Kouha was able to decipher Aladdin's words until gradually he could hear him normally. "Ugh…" He sat up gingerly and felt his side. "You're a pussy." He pointed at Alibaba. "Man up if you wanna get anywhere in the world." He slowly got to his feet and was proud that he only swayed only a little. "I'm going to go now. I'll see you later Aladdin." Kouha hefted his scythe up and rest it against his shoulder as he leapt up into the air. Without so much as a backward glance, he vanished into the cloud of battle.

Alibaba stared at Kouha's retreating form, his mouth hanging open with shock. "Shouldn't he have waited around a little before running off like that?"

Aladdin weakly shrugged in response. "Kouha-Onii's just like that. He wouldn't have stopped even if we held him down."

"That entire family is out of its freaking mind!"


End file.
